Charles Leavock drowned Canada 1909

[marys girl]

Am researching a family called Leavock and hit partial brick wall re mother Maria so trying another angle.  Her son Charles was born 1861 Leeds England and appears on 1861, 1871, 1881 censuses in Leeds.  In 1886 he married Annie Simmons in Chorlton, Lancashire.  In 1901 he is listed at Esquimax Vancouver as a prospector on the Canadian census. In 1904 he married Hannah Johnson in Leeds and they had two daughters.  He returned to Canada - why?- and is listed on the British Columbia Death Index for 1909.  Can anyone turn up any info please on the Canadian censuses, death index, newspapers, shipping etc.  I understand that he was drowned whilst shooting some rapids on Vancouver Island.  any help will be much appreciated anne

[jorose]

http://search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-38ECE25/gbsearch/Births,Marriages,Deaths
 - you can get the death certificate from here but it will probably be cheaper to go to http://www.raogk.org/bcolumbia.htm and ask someone to get a copy for you (when I did it, I needed to pay for photocopying/postage so had to send concealed cash in an envelope.

The death index does confirm his place of death as "Gordon River", and his age as 48. If you also search the 'textual' records on that site you can see there is a probate entry for him. How much information will be on the death certificate I'm not sure - they're fairly good if the informant is close family but if he had no family there the details might be quite sparse.

http://www.findmypast.com/passengerListPersonSearchStart.action - shows him heading to Canada in 1895. The second journey does not seem to be listed (might be under a different spelling of his name?).

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canbc/vote1898/votele.htm - he is in the BC voters list here.

Perhaps he was planning on bringing the rest of the family over to BC. He may have only been intending to come back to visit his mother/other family, met Hannah, stayed in England a few years, then decided to head back to Canada. Often the husband would go first, find work and a place for the family to live, then send money back for the rest of the family.

[marys girl]

Many thanks for all the information you gave me Jorose, it is really helpful.  I'm sorry I haven't replied before now but with holidays, daughters wedding and illness - what a mixture - I haven't been able to do any family research since posting my request.  Have emailed the site you suggested re certificates and am awaiting a reply. Will keep on looking for his mothers birth and marriage, I don't think she ever married just called herself Mrs Holmes late in life.  Her birth 1834 ish in Knaresborough eludes me.  All her siblings were baptised but can't trace hers. Again many thanks regards Anne

[Jacquie in Canada]

In 1901 he is listed at Esquimax Vancouver as a prospector on the Canadian census.

I found a Charles Leavock on the 1901 census in Esquimax but it says he was a farmer, not a prospector.

Name: Charles Leavock
Gender: Male
Marital Status: Single 
Age: 40 
Birth Date: 6 Jan 1861
Birthplace: England
Relation to Head of House: Head 
Immigration Year: 1895 
Racial or Tribal Origin: English 
Nationality: Canadian 
Religion: Atheist 
Occupation: Farmer 
Province: British Columbia 
District: Vancouver 
District Number: 3 
Sub-District: Esquimalt 
Sub-District Number: D-2
Family Number: 15 
Page: 1

Also there are no entries in the UK Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960 at Ancestry for anyone with the surname Leavock and doing a soundex search for Charles Leavock turned up nothing that fit his information as well.

[avidgenie]

This is from the site Victoria's Victoria in their newspaper index at http://web.uvic.ca/vv/

"Charles Leavock was drowned yesterday in Jordan River. He started from Port Renfrew in a canoe bound for his ranch, which is situated a few miles inland. Early Sat morning the upturned boat, with blankets, were found by a party of prospectors and further investigation disclosed Leavock's body washed on the banks of the stream...
[Colonist, 1909-04-18] "

It doesn't say the actual page number but you can read The British Colonist newspaper 1858-1910 online at http://www.britishcolonist.ca/colonist.htm . Just choose the year 1909.

[avidgenie]

Here is the article on Charles Leavock. It is a large PDF file at http://www.britishcolonist.ca/tc/1909/04/18/19090418013.pdf . The article is titled Fatality on West Coast Yesterday.

His obituary is on April 21, 1909, page 6  http://www.britishcolonist.ca/tc/1909/04/21/19090421006.pdf (another large PDF). I located it in another index of the Times Colonist at http://www.victoria.ca/archives/archives_vit.shtml .